Game Modes

Classic, Turbo and Big Ball Mayhem — what actually changes, and how to play each

Magnet Blast currently offers three game modes. All three are free-for-all — everybody against everybody, highest score when the timer runs out wins. What changes between them is the underlying physics, and the changes are large enough that a strategy which works in one mode can be actively wrong in another.

Every mode is playable on every arena, and the mode is chosen before you queue (or by the host, in a private room).

Classic

The default rule set, and the baseline everything else is tuned against. Standard movement speed, standard projectile behaviour, 120-second matches, free-for-all scoring.

Classic is where the mechanics in the strategy guide apply exactly as written — the ~400-pixel convergence range for a full cluster, the 400-unit base movement speed, normal knockback. If you're learning the game or trying to genuinely improve at it, this is the mode to do it in, because every other mode is a modification of these numbers.

How to play it: range discipline and cluster management. Matches are long enough (two minutes) that patient play is rewarded — you can afford to disengage, regenerate, and pick a better fight rather than forcing a bad one.

Turbo

Everything moves twice as fast, and matches are 30 seconds shorter. Specifically: movement speed and acceleration are doubled, projectiles fly 30% faster, and the minimum gap between shots is cut to 60% of normal, so you can fire noticeably more often.

The doubled movement speed is the change that matters most, and it's not just "the same game, faster." At 2× speed you cover the distance between the wide part of your spread and your convergence range almost instantly, which means the careful range management that wins Classic matches is much harder to maintain. Fights start and end before you can reposition deliberately.

How to play it: react rather than plan. Fire more often with smaller clusters — the faster fire rate directly supports this, and holding out for a perfect full-cluster shot rarely works when both you and your target are moving at 800 units per second. Because the whole match is only 90 seconds, aggression is also more justified: there simply isn't time to play a patient regeneration game.

Big Ball Mayhem

Balls are 1.8× larger, hit 1.3× harder, and knock targets around 1.6× further. Match length is the same as Classic at 120 seconds, and movement speed is unchanged — despite the name, your feet work exactly as they do in Classic.

Bigger balls change the game in a way that's easy to underestimate: a larger projectile is a larger hitbox, so shots that would have narrowly missed in Classic now connect. In effect, the mode is more forgiving of imprecise aim while simultaneously punishing you far harder for getting hit. Every exchange is higher-stakes in both directions.

The increased knockback is the other headline. At 1.6×, being hit meaningfully relocates you — which makes Big Ball Mayhem and the Lava Pit arena a particularly dangerous combination, since displacement near hazard terrain is lethal rather than annoying.

How to play it: respect incoming fire far more than you would in Classic. The larger hitboxes mean dodging is less reliable, so cover and positioning carry more weight than reflexes. On hazard maps especially, watch what's behind you — a single hit can push you somewhere you can't recover from.

Which mode should you play?

• New to the game: Classic. It's the baseline, and skills learned here transfer to the other two.
• Short on time or want constant action: Turbo. Matches are 90 seconds and there's almost no downtime.
• Want decisive, high-impact fights: Big Ball Mayhem. Fewer, heavier exchanges rather than lots of chip damage.

Public matches and private rooms

Both public quick-match and private rooms support all three modes. In a public match you choose your preferred arena and mode before queueing. In a private room the host picks the mode, the arena, the player cap (2–8) and how many bots fill the empty slots — including zero, if you want a purely human game.

One thing worth knowing: coins, XP and quest progress are only awarded in public matches. Private rooms are for playing with people you know, not for farming progression. See the progression guide for the details.